My first, my last, my everything
by Nicia
Summary: Every friendship has its boundaries, or does it? What happens when you realise that the one for you, might just be the one who's been hidden in plain sight the entire time? RxD. Rated M for naughty thoughts/language and you know what. Written for the FAGE 3some as a gift for Laurie Whitlock.
1. Chapter 1

**Ficawesome Gift Exchange- 3some**

**Title: My first, my last, my everything.**

**Written for: Laurie Whitlock**

**Written By: Nicia**

**Rating: M**

**Prompt used: Best friends just realising that they are meant to be together.**

**Summary: Written for the FAGE3some as a gift for Laurie Dennison-Laurie Whitlock. Every friendship has its boundaries, or does it? What happens when you realise that the one for you, might just be the one who's been hidden in plain sight the entire time? RxD. Rated M for lemons and naughty thoughts/language.**

**A.N.** Rose, Dimitri, Lissa, Christian, Mia, Tasha, Adrian and anyone else you could possibly think of (with the exception of their parents, other adults and guardians) are all seventeen/eighteen (in their last year at St. Vladimir's Academy). This is AU, but still set in the VA world.

All pictures and links are on my profile.

**Huge thanks to my fabulous beta untamed00notbroken. Thanks so much for your brilliant work and effort, Gabby! Xx**

**And thank you so much to my brilliant banner maker FatesLove Queen-Amy. The banner you made for this piece of work was absolutely amazing!**

**Laurie, I really hope you enjoy this. :)**

* * *

><p><em>Can you find the time<br>to let your lover love you  
>He only wants to show you<br>The things he wants to learn too  
>The hardest parts you'll get through<br>And in the end you'll have your best friend_

_Love like this may come once_  
><em>Baby it's fate<em>  
><em>Like a soul mate he's your penguin<em>  
><em>Baby it's fate<em>  
><em>Baby it's fate<em>  
><em>Not luck<em>

_Can you find the time to let your lover hold you_  
><em>He needs somebody to hold to<em>  
><em>His love is strong and so true<em>  
><em>His arrows aiming for you<em>  
><em>And he's the one that you were born to love<em>

_**Christina Perri, Penguin.**_

*** * * VA * * ***

"Roza." Dimitri's voice was soft, melodical as his lips ghosted over my cheekbone, across my jaw and down my neck to the sensitive spot on my collarbone. "You're so soft." He sounded surprised as his fingers gently followed the trail that his lips were making.

A light sigh escaped my lips as my back arched under his touch, and my hands twined into the ends of his hair, to pull his face back up to mine.

This scenario had certainly never been something I expected to happen. I'd met Dimitri on the first day of school, when we were both five years old.

He was a transfer student, and stuck out like a sore thumb. Even at five, he'd towered over the other kids, and because he was an international student, his Russian accent made it easy for the others to single him out and pick on him. On that first day, he'd stood in the corner of the playground, half-hidden behind his mum as he watched us all with large, fearful eyes.

And I was pretty sure that he would have begged her to take him back to Russia, if not for our rather unusual introduction.

I'd jumped off of the climbing frame, onto the back of one of the academy's guardians. Stan Alto. At five, I knew exactly what to do to wind him up, and he hated me with a passion.

So maybe jumping onto his back and knocking him to the ground wasn't the best of ideas. Neither was getting chased around the playground by him,with me screaming at the top of my lungs, and him yelling at me for my 'stupid little stunt'.

But it did mean that I wasn't looking where I was going, and ran into Olena, Dimitri's mum. And that startled Dimitri, who fell over, and out of his hiding place, which I promptly took to avoid Stan's rage.

From that moment on we'd been best friends. I'd taken him under my wing in a way, and made sure that nothing happened to him. In return, whenever we went on school trips, he made sure that nothing happened to me. No guys tried to take advantage of me because I was a dhampir out of fear of me telling my six foot seven best friend. Whenever girls got too bitchy, and I got ready to beat them up, Dimitri was there to calm me down. And whenever he started to become too antisocial, and hid himself away with a book, I brought him back out of his shell.

We were polar opposites, and that was why we worked.

He was the moroi; I was the dhampir. He was calm, mature and level-headed; I was wild, impulsive and carefree. But we were both fiercely protective of each other, and of our friendship. He didn't date a girl without my approval, just like I didn't date any guys who didn't meet his standards.

And contrary to popular belief, we weren't like that because we were friends with benefits, or because we were secretly dating. We were simply a girl and a guy, who were the best of friends, and who loved each other as such.

From the day we'd met, we'd been inseparable. We shared _everything_. When Dimitri was sick, I'd given up my chance to go shopping with my best female friend, Lissa, to stay at the academy and take care of him. And when my dad had bailed out on me at the last minute _again_, Dimitri had pleaded and begged his mother to let me stay with them for the entire Christmas holidays. Granted, at five years old, all Dimitri had to do was widen his huge chocolate brown eyes and pout a little, and Olena's resolve crumbled, but the good intention was still there. And then he'd done it again at the Easter holidays. And the summer holidays, and every holiday after that, when my dad had a work commitment that popped up, that meant it was 'too dangerous' for me to go home with him.

We'd shared our first kiss. It had been awkward and uncomfortable, but we'd figured that it was better to practice with your best friend and to improve, rather than to go on a date with someone you really liked, and to find out the hard way that you were a terrible kisser.

We'd shared baths when we were kids, lunches, colds, coughs, chicken pox, lollipops and just about everything else in between. Hell, we'd even shared our clothes, back when I'd gone through my 'tomboy' phase, and refused to wear anything other than men's clothing.

Today, or rather tonight, was no different. We were sharing another first.

We were going to share our first sexual experience with each other. It was no big deal, I mean, Dimitri had seen me naked before, and had walked in on me thousands of times. This was just like sharing our first kiss. We were the best of friends, and we wanted to make sure that we knew what we were doing. Neither of us were in a relationship either, so it wasn't like we would be cheating on our partners. In fact, we were doing this for the good of our future partners.

At least, that's what I kept telling myself. It wasn't because lately, the atmosphere between us seemed to have changed slightly. It wasn't because lately, whenever we hugged, we seemed to hold on for just a second too long to be considered friends, and it certainly wasn't because Dimitri sounded like he was breathing in the scent of my hair when he held me. It wasn't because I kept trying to take sneaky breaths of his aftershave whenever we curled up together in the lounge, while laughing and joking with the rest of our friends.

And it most definitely wasn't because I wondered if it was possible that we both wanted to be something more than best friends.

"Roza." Dimitri's soft moan brought me out of my musings as his lips touched my own once again. The feel of his mouth moulding against mine elicited a light groan from my throat, and he smiled against my lips.

"Stop teasing me, Dimitri."My voice was breathy as I gasped for air. His grin widened at my complaint and he let his nose skim across my jaw so he could nip at my earlobe softly.

"You deserve it. You've been teasing me all week."

"And just how have I been doing that?" I struggled to maintain my composure and train of thought as his fingers deftly undid the buttons to my shirt.

"You know exactly how." His dark eyes flashed to mine, and I swallowed heavily. The normally chocolate brown had deepened with lust, and as he undid the last button of my shirt, my breath caught. Dimitri's eyes flashed down to my chest and widened as he took in the sight.

Sure, it had been a few years since we'd gone skinny dipping, but I hadn't changed that much had I? Or was it because my body was such a contrast to the stick thin frames of the moroi girls who continually tried to throw themselves at him?

"You're beautiful." He murmured.

That shocked me.

Normally, guys tended to relate to my body with terms such as 'I'd tap that'. Terms to which resulted in me flipping them off.

Dimitri's words caused me to blush furiously and drop my gaze.

"Roza," He tilted my face up so that my eyes had to meet his. "I mean it. You're beautiful."

Guys had called me hot, or sexy, and even smokin' before, but the way Dimitri stared into my eyes caused a strange warmth to spread throughout my chest, and butterflies to erupt in my stomach.

"Dimitri," My voice was breathy and uneven. "Kiss me. Please."

His warm lips moulded against mine willingly, and a light moan built up in my throat as he sucked on my lower lip to deepen the kiss.

I'd kissed Dimitri several times, but never like this. This time, we weren't nervous because it was our first time kissing anyone; and we weren't doing it for a dare, in front of a crowd of people at a party during a game of spin the bottle. This time, the atmosphere between us was more sensual, more intimate as his tongue softly brushed against mine and teased me into kissing him deeper.

My fingers trailed up the corded muscles of his back and twined into the ends of his hair, eliciting a deep groan from his chest that rumbled and vibrated into my body, sending my nerve endings into overdrive as they tingled with heat.

My back arched as Dimitri ground his hips against mine**;** the bulge in the front of his jeans making it really hit home that we were about to do something that couldn't be taken back or laughed off. Heat pulsed in between my legs as Dimitri's large, rough hand slid down my thigh until he reached my knee, and then he lifted my leg up to wrap around his waist, drawing my hips up so that his erection pressed against me more fully.

"Dimitri," My cheeks flushed as he lifted his head to look down at me, his dark eyes heady and hooded with lust. "I don't know what to do."

Understanding filled his eyes as a wry smile pulled at his lips. "Neither do I." He barked out a harsh laugh and unhooked my leg from around his waist so he could roll off of me.

"I mean-" he cut himself off with a sharp sigh and turned his head to the side, meeting my gaze as I looked at him questioningly.

"We both know what to do, but not how to go about it. One of the simplest things in the world, and we choke."

He nodded in agreement and reached out to pull me in against his side. My head tucked in underneath his chin, as my body moulded into his, and once again, I was abruptly reminded of just how well we fitted together.

I sighed heavily, and he tilted my face up to meet his. "What's wrong?"

I dropped his gaze as I flushed. "It's stupid."

"No it's not, Roza. What is it?"

"I just don't see why I'm feeling so insecure all of a sudden. Everyone here at St. Vlad's thinks that I'm not a virgin, and almost everyone thinks that we're fucking behind closed doors, so I don't see why, when it comes down to it I'm nervous." That was partly a lie, but I wasn't going to reveal the fact that I was nervous about my change in feelings towards him, not that we were planning to lose our virginity.

His fingers stroked through my hair reassuringly, and my body began to relax. "I think it's because… we didn't immediately rush out and have sex with the first person we found as soon as we turned seventeen. We waited, and so, it's more… special? It's a big deal, Rose. We don't have to do _it_ tonight, or ever. We can pretend that this never happened and call the rest of the gang over to watch a film instead."

I swallowed heavily and looked up to meet his gaze. "I want to. I'm just… scared." _Scared of what I'm feeling for you._

"Me too." Dimitri's voice was a whisper, as he lowered his head down to touch his lips to mine.

Part of my mind relaxed, knowing that Dimitri was feeling just as anxious about this situation as I was, whilst another part of my mind began to worry and mull over whether or not he was nervous about the same things as I was.

"Roza," Dimitri's voice was a soft murmur as his hand slid down my back to wrap around my waist. "Stop overthinking it."

So I shut my eyes, and let myself melt into the sensations of Dimitri's lips against mine. The honey taste of his hot mouth. The stomach flipping excitement as our tongues added into the mix.

I smiled as anticipation rolled through me, and Dimitri moaned in return. My fingers traced the hard muscles of his back, all the way down to his shirt, and then I tugged roughly at the thin cotton material, indicating that I wanted it off.

Our lips parted from each other's as he pulled back and yanked his top up and over his head, his chest rising and falling heavily as he panted and stared down at me. I hadn't realised that the intensity of our kisses had picked up so much, but just staring at his swollen, reddened lips made me want to fist my fingers into his shoulder length hair and drag his mouth back to mine.

"Stop ogling, Roza."

"Give me a minute to appreciate the scenery, Comrade."

I'd seen Dimitri topless plenty of times before. Hell, we spent almost every night together in one of our dorm rooms, and during the holidays, I almost always stayed with him and his family. We'd stay up late, just talking or watching films until it grew late enough for us to go to sleep, and then we'd crawl in at opposite ends of the bed of whichever room we were in and continue our conversation in hushed whispers until we feel asleep. He slept topless, so seeing his chest wasn't an unusual occurrence. It certainly didn't cause me to blush and giggle like a schoolgirl, as the majority of the other female academists did during the summer when we all swam in the lake or sunbathed.

But today, I felt like a giggly schoolgirl as my hungry gaze dragged over Dimitri's body slowly. His skin was taut, his muscles firm and defined, which was unusual for a moroi. Then again, I did drag him to most of my gym and extra-curricular training sessions, so it was only natural that he'd become 'hench' like a dhampir. It didn't stop me from being shocked though. Most moroi guys were skinny like weeds.

Dimitri was mature, and as I looked at him, it struck me that we weren't kids anymore.

With loose strands of his hair falling in his face, as he hovered over me, half-dressed, I realised how grown up he was. How grown up we both were, or were about to become. Dimitri was a _man_. And by giving up our innocence, we were about to lose the last ties we had to our childhood.

"Your turn."

His voice shocked me back to reality, and another blush rose up my cheeks as I pushed on his chest so that he rolled onto his back as I knelt beside him. His eyes locked with mine as my hands slid down my waist to my hips, and then moved round to the front of my jeans.

_Time to follow through with your decision, Rose._

Dimitri's intense gaze unsettled my nerves, and I fumbled with the zipper to my jeans, until his large hands covered mine. He inhaled sharply as he helped me slip the rough denim over my hips and down my legs. I had a figure to be proud of, but around Dimitri, it was weird. He'd known me for practically all my life. He'd seen me go through my awkward stage, and my hormonal phase, and now this.

Me, in my underwear.

Sexy underwear at that.

Ann Summers type sexy.

Dimitri's eyes widened as he took in my scarlet, lacy lingerie. Yes, I'd worn it specifically for this event. Despite the fact that Dimitri had seen me at my best, and my worst, I didn't want him to remember tonight with the image of me in huge, white granny panties. Not that I had any of those to wear anyway.

_Your turn. _

The words were unspoken, but hung in the air between us as he followed suit and stripped off his jeans, leaving him bare, except for his satin boxers.

"Are you still sure? We can stop if you want to, Roza. You know that I'd never force you to continue if you didn't want to."

And it was true. Dimitri wouldn't even force me to watch a film if I didn't want to. He respected my decisions and honoured them. Despite being one of the most sought after young men in the moroi world, the attention hadn't gone to his head. He was one of the sweetest, kindest souls I'd ever met. He was a true gentleman too. Olena had raised him right. He'd never taken advantage of anyone, and had never treated a girl with disrespect. In fact, the only girl he'd ever kissed without being in a relationship with her was… me.

And he'd only ever done that with my permission.

"I want to."

My arms snaked around his neck as I pulled his lips back down to mine, and we fell back into the pillows, Dimitri's chest pressed up against mine as we wriggled into the middle of the bed.

Suddenly, he pulled back. "Does this feel weird to you?"

I blinked, startled by the sudden lack of body heat and sat up onto my elbows to stare at him. His brows were furrowed as he watched me warily.

"To be honest. It does in a way," His face fell, and I realised what he'd been trying to hint at. "Not in a, 'we're so close it's like trying to do something with my brother' kind of way, but in a 'I can't believe I'm going to lose my virginity' kind of way. If that makes sense." Relief flooded his features and I giggled. "Seriously? You chose to worry about that now?"

A delicate flush rose up his cheeks, and I full on laughed, flopping back into the pillows as I clutched at my stomach.

"It's not funny!"

I cracked one eye open, took in his mortified face, and burst into laughter again.

Watching Dimitri when he was embarrassed was a show in itself. He didn't do it often, but when he did… I liked to make his humiliation last as long as was humanly possible.

He scowled down at me, looking like a grumpy five year old, and I giggled once more before sobering up and composing myself.

"Comrade. I just can't believe that you were worrying about something like that. I mean, we've kissed so many times, I'm pretty sure that it was clear that we don't exactly have that whole 'close enough to be family' kind of vibe."

His blush deepened and he dropped my gaze. "I know, it's just… this is different. I wanted to make sure you didn't feel like this was," He seemed to struggle with how to phrase his next sentence. "Pushing the boundaries of our… friendship."

I pondered his words as he waited for my response. "I suppose… I some people's eyes, it would. Or it wouldn't seem proper." I brushed some of the hair out of his eyes before I let my hand trail down the planes of his face to cup his cheek. "But I trust you more than anyone else in the world. I trust you with my life, even though I'm the dhampir, and so, I am responsible for yours." He opened his mouth to comment, but I placed my fingertips over his lips to silence him. "I trust you with my heart. You know that I don't date, I just take and break hearts, but you're the only person I really let in. Lissa's my best female friend, and I tell her almost everything, but there are some things that I keep from her, too. With you, I have no secrets. You know everything about me, and I know that you won't take advantage of that. I feel safe with you knowing _me_, inside and out. Okay?"

Some emotion clicked in his eyes as he listened to me talk, and once I uncovered his mouth, he leant forwards to capture my lips with his own.

"Roza…" All of his feelings were summed up in that one word. It was crazy, that we knew each other well enough that we could speak volumes with one word.

"I know."

"I trust you too. I'll never, ever trust anyone the way I trust you." His hands slipped down to hold my hips as he kissed me once again before pulling back. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but he hesitated and gazed down into my eyes instead.

_I love you._

Why wouldn't he say it? If he said that, I wouldn't be so scared. I'd feel reassured. I wouldn't be so anxious about where we were going, or rather, what would happen to our friendship after tonight.

And I'd finally be able to say it to him too. Seriously, not just as courtesy like we always did when saying goodbye during the few holidays that my dad actually managed to spend with me.

"What are you thinking about?"

Dimitri's soft whisper and kiss on my shoulder brought me out of my contemplation once again.

I decided to be truthful. "Us."

His eyes widened slightly, but it seemed like a glimmer of hope shone in the brown depths. "What about us?"

I swallowed heavily and chose to lie this time. "About whether it'll be obvious to everyone else that we finally caved and fucked each other."

His brow wrinkled and he tilted my face up to meet his. "Don't call it that. Yes, we're going to lose our virginity to each other, but we're not '_fucking_'. I have more respect for you than that, Rose. You're not some booty call. Even though we're not in a relationship, as corny as it sounds, don't you dare laugh at me, we're going to make love. And nothing less."

His deep brown eyes blazed with an intensity that almost made me melt on the spot.

"Dimitri. I- I don't have words."

"Then don't say anything." His lips pressed against mine tenderly once again, and I welcomed his touch. His fingers slid up and across my heated skin as he reached around me to try and unclasp my bra. Try, being the operative word. He fumbled for a few minutes, until I took pity on him and reached behind my back to push his fingers away.

We both laughed against each other's lips.

"If I'm that bad at getting your bra off, I dread to think about how the rest of our night's going to go."

"If you'd been a pro at getting it off, I'd have been pissed, Comrade. Then I would have gone and hunted down the slut who'd seduced you into taking off her bra or worse. Trust me; your inexperienced hands worked to your advantage this time."

He chuckled, but the sound cut off as I pulled my bra free.

A cute, light pink tinge coloured his cheeks as he stared at my chest, swallowed, raised his gaze to meet my eyes, and then he flushed a deeper shade as he realised that I was watching him.

"Now you're the one overthinking it."

My mimicry of his earlier words caused him to grin bashfully.

"It's just- I haven't- Like ever-" He groaned in frustration and I smiled. Like a gentleman, he didn't want me to feel like a piece of meat, but at the same time, the fact that he was a horny, straight, teenage guy made him want to ogle my breasts until I slapped him.

I finally lost my patience and forcefully tugged on his shoulders so that he leant forwards enough for me to kiss him again.

My arms wrapped around his neck as his slipped to my waist, and as our chests brushed against each other's lightly, he moaned. I gasped at the thrill that ran through me as the intensity of our kisses picked up.

_This was it._

A light moan worked its way out of my throat as Dimitri's strong hands grasped my thighs and lifted them to wrap around his waist.

"Wait," My voice was breathy and muffled against Dimitri's lips. "Your boxers; take off your boxers first."

His mouth never left mine, but his hands pulled my legs from around his waist as he lifted his weight off of the lower half of my body. The slight snap of elastic sounded through the air and he yelped.

"What happened?" I broke the kiss to glance down.

"I pinged myself with the elastic waistband."

I giggled, but happily melted against his lips once more as I lifted my legs and hooked my toes into the waistband of his boxers. Slowly, I pushed them down his legs as far as I could reach, and then gave up. Once again, Dimitri lifted his weight off of me, and this time, I lifted my lower back so he could pull off my panties. He grabbed the box of condoms he'd bought in preparation for tonight before he pulled away from my body to finish taking off his boxers and to remove my underwear fully.

His breath caught and I flushed.

"Yeah, yeah, it's not a sight to see."

I tried to pull him back up my body, but he held my hands still against his chest as he continued to look at _all_ of me.

"Roza, your body is beautiful. Don't be embarrassed. I'm naked too, so you're not in this alone."

I nodded, and took the time to study him.

As I'd already noted, his build was muscular and defined. I let my gaze skip over the features I already knew, until they rested on _him_. I didn't have any previous experiences to compare him to, but 'little Dimitri' looked like he'd break me.

My apprehension must have shown on my face, because Dimitri paused as he crawled up the bed and settled next to me instead.

"We still have time to stop, Rose. We," He shut his eyes briefly and swallowed. "We don't have to- If you've changed your mind. I don't want to hurt you."

My head was shaking before he even finished speaking. "It's going to hurt either way. And I, ah… I-" I flushed and dropped his gaze. "Well, my hymen's already broken. From training. So I don't think it'll hurt as much. But I asked Lissa, and she said that the first time always hurts. She said that it gets better, and that after a short while, it stopped hurting. I mean, her first time was with Aaron, so she focused on the pain more than she thought she would have if she'd been with Christian at the time, but she said that-"

I was rambling and Dimitri knew it. His hand covered my mouth and stopped my nervous spiel.

"I just don't want you to have any regrets. About any part of this, Roza."

"I know. And I don't and won't regret a single second. I was just… shocked."

"Good shocked or bad shocked?"

I grinned as I curled up against his side, and his arm wrapped around my waist.

"Definitely good." I stretched my body up and grinned against Dimitri's lips. "Now that we've finally gotten our insecurities all cleared up."

I giggled as he suddenly sat up, swept my body into his lap, and pulled the covers back on the bed before placing me inside.

"One last thing." He grabbed a condom out of the box before he joined me under the covers. "…Do you know how to put these on?"

My jaw dropped, and he burst into laughter. "Your face, Roza. That was priceless. I wish I'd had a camera."

"Shut up." He laughed at the sour look on my face once more as he tore the foil wrapper open and then glanced away from me to slide it on to his hard length. My breath caught, and I didn't know where to look.

I knew it wasn't polite to openly stare at Dimitri while he did something so simple, but I couldn't help my eyes from sliding back in that southerly direction.

"Roza," Dimitri's fingers slipped under my chin and tilted my face up. "It's not polite to stare. Your eyes are wide as saucers." He chuckled once before lying down and tugging on my shoulder so that I was lying down next to him. "Now, where were we?"

I grinned and drew his face to meet mine. "About to go through with the biggest choice of our lives."

He nodded and kissed me tenderly, and a thrill of anticipation ran through me.

Dimitri's eyes caught mine as my hands slipped up over his broad shoulders so that my arms could wrap around his neck, and I rolled onto my back, forcing him to roll with me.

Like always, his hands held me gently, as though I'd break if he was too forceful.

His mouth was soft, sweet, as he kissed me once again, lightly nipping at my bottom lip with his fangs.

"No biting."

My voice was a murmur but he nodded and kissed his way up to my ear as he shifted above me, transferring his weight onto his forearms so that his chest wasn't pressed up as heavily against mine.

"I would never do that, Roza."

I blushed slightly. "Sorry. It's ahabit. Whenever I've dated moroi guys, they've always seemed to think that if they sweet talk me enough, I'll let them stick their fangs in me."

His lips skimmed down the sensitive skin of my neck, across my collarbone, and made their way back up to my lips. "I won't."

"I know."

Our kisses grew hungrier and deepened as we lightly rubbed our hips against each other. My entire body felt flushed as Dimitri pressed up against me, his strong arms on either side of my upper body as I clutched at him.

My nerves decided to make a vicious comeback then, but as Dimitri shifted above me, dropping his hips slightly lower, my excitement began to overcome the anxiety.

His hips brushed up against mine once more, and we both moaned lightly, before he supported his weight on one arm, and reached down to grasp himself firmly.

"Are you sure, Roza?"

I stared into Dimitri's eyes for what seemed like an eternity before I smiled and ran my fingers through his hair. He was too good to be true. We were so close, and he was still giving me the chance to stop it if I'd had a sudden change of heart. This was my last chance to back out.

"Yes."

His lips crushed against mine hungrily as he slowly moved forwards to press his erection against my entrance.

I stiffened, and he froze, his dark eyes snapping open to stare into mine.

"You okay?"

I nodded and my muscles slowly relaxed.

"The seriousness of what we're about to do just hit me."

"Do you want to stop?"

"No." My voice trembled, and I kissed him softly to soothe my nerves. "It's like, I dunno, pre-wedding jitters. Keep going."

He responded to the kiss, and I melted back into the pillow, my fingers twining into the roots of his hair as he slowly inched his hips forwards, his hand guiding him in to the correct spot.

My body tensed and relaxed at his soft touch as he barely entered my body before glancing up to meet my eyes.

"Is this okay?"

I nodded and smiled as he pushed forwards a little bit more before checking that I was okay once again.

My eyes fluttered shut and I tightened my fingers in his hair to pull his head up to mine. "You don't have to be quite so…"

My voice trailed off as Dimitri pulled out slightly, and then thrust his hips forwards gently, driving a little deeper than before. Muscles that I hadn't known existed tightened around him as he slipped deeper into me, causing him to groan lightly and let go of his erection to slide his hand up to hold my waist.

His eyes burned into mine, the chocolate brown darkening with lust until they practically smouldered as he pulled out once again. "Is that-"

In answer, I lifted my leg to wrap around his waist, the change in our body positions causing him to push back inside me. Deeply. I gasped as my muscles tightened around his strongly, and froze as he did, trying to allow my body to get used to the intrusion. It hurt a little, but in a way, I was prepared for it. It wasn't pain so much as needing to get used to being filled in such an intimate spot.

Once my lower body relaxed again, I tilted my face up to meet his gaze. Dimitri's eyes were wide and worried as he watched me.

"I'm okay." His face relaxed slightly, but his eyes stayed locked on mine. "Dimitri," I reached up to cup his cheek. "I'm okay. Really."

His features softened as I massaged his face. "Are you sure?"

I nodded, and grinned wickedly as I lifted my other leg to wrap around his waist, this time prepared for the sensation of him sliding further into my body.

A low moan left his lips as I gasped and tightened my hold on his hair.

Our inhibitions fell away then, as Dimitri slid into me fully before pulling out once again, and repeating the motion. His thrusts were still gentle, but powerful as he drove himself into my body, his head falling forwards to rest in the crook of my neck as our breathing picked up.

The feel of him moving in me, of us doing this for the first time was intense, overpowering. My muscles trembled and tensed, before relaxing again as we slowly rocked against each other.

Compared to some of the horror stories Lissa had been told and had passed on to me; what we were doing felt amazing. Dimitri's muscled rippled under my touch as I let my fingertips explore his body; the timing of my touch matching the pace of his thrusts in me.

And as my strokes increased, so did his. My hips rose to meet his each time he drove forwards, and a light sheen of sweat covered our bodies as we moved against each other, trying to find a rhythm that was right for us.

And as Dimitri thrust into me, my body felt like it was on the cusp of… something. Being so close to it, and yet, not knowing how to reach it caused a frustrated moan to leave my mouth as I rocked against Dimitri a little faster.

"Roza?" Dimitri's voice was a moan as he panted and nipped at my earlobe. "Are you- are you-" His voice cut off as his body trembled once and I gasped as he throbbed inside me.

"I-"

We both cut off as he shook once more, and my fingers dug into the tense muscles of his back as the pressure inside of me grew.

I was so close to something, but I didn't know how to reach it. Every thrust of Dimitri's hips pushed me a little closer, and I twisted my hips, hoping the friction against him would help relieve the tension in my body, and his.

And it did.

Dimitri's arms buckled as he pulled back and plunged into me once more. "Ro-" His voice cut off as he shuddered strongly, before collapsing against my chest as I cried out softly as my muscles tensed and relaxed.

Dimitri's chest heaved against mine as we struggled to breathe and hold onto each other at the same time. My body felt alive and sore and a whole host of other emotional states that I couldn't pinpoint… and even though I hadn't had an orgasm, I felt strangely… sated. My body was calm, relaxed as my fingers trailed through Dimitri's hair as we waited for our breathing to calm

My brain felt fuzzy and mellow as we lay together, with Dimitri's head on my chest, our heavy breathing being the only sounds that punctuated the silence.

Slowly, and almost reluctantly, Dimitri shifted and lifted his weight off of me, lifting his head to press a gentle kiss to my lips.

My fingers clutched uselessly at his shoulders as he lifted his body weight off of mine to pull away and remove his condom, tie a knot in the end and throw it into the bin before lying back down by my side, this time with his face resting in the crook of my neck. His arms wrapped around my waist as he curled up against me before pulling the covers over our sweaty, naked forms.

I finally regained the ability to speak somewhat.

"Wow. That was…"

Dimitri grinned against my shoulder and pulled me tighter against his body. "Amazing." His lips softly pressed against my temple and trailed across my forehead and down the bridge of my nose to my lips. "_You_ are amazing."

My nose brushed against his lightly as I tilted my face sideways to stare into his eyes. "You were too." My voice was soft as I lifted my hand from where it had been resting on his chest, to trace his features lightly. "Thank you, Dimitri."

His eyes were warm as they locked with mine. "For what?"

"Just for being you. Don't change. Please."

His fingers tilted my face back up as I tried to bury my face in his chest.

"That's not what you were going to say, and you know it, Roza. Thank you, for what?"

I swallowed heavily as my eyes met his once again. "For not taking advantage of me. For making what we just did, despite the inevitable pain, the best experience of my life. Thank you for sharing something so special with me."

"Thank you**,** too, Roza." He cut himself off and squeezed his eyes shut. "I can't keep it up Rose."

Anxiety twisted my insides. "You can't keep what up?"

His eyes opened then, blazing into mine with the strength of his emotion. "I can't keep pretending that I'm okay with us," He motioned between us. "Staying like this. I'm not okay with only being your best friend, and I hate it whenever I have to say that you are."

Irrational tears stung the back of my eyes as I leant away from him. "You think that this was a mistake?"

"No!" His hands grasped my arms to stop me from slipping out of his hold and leaving. "Rose, I want- I want," He swallowed heavily. "I want you. I want us to be more, or to at least try being more."

"You do?" I couldn't keep the incredulity out of my voice. "Why on Earth would you want to try being in a relationship with me?"

"Because, you're funny, and smart, and beautiful. Despite what I just said, you _are_ my best friend, and I honestly can't imagine or think of anyone who I'd rather be with, than you. I l-"

He flushed and cut off.

"Say it." My voice was greedy as I held my breath. "Dimitri, please, for God's sakes, say it-"

"I love you."

My breath caught as those three magical words left his lips.

_I love you._

Three words I'd wanted to hear for goodness knows how long.

_I love you._

"Do you-" Dimitri looked embarrassed. "Do you care for me, too? Or, or, at least feel something for me?" I nodded. "You don't just see me as a friend?"

_It's what you've been waiting for, Rose. Don't chicken out now!_ I nodded and took a deep breath. "I love you, too."

"Really?" He asked with wide eyes.

I smacked his chest. "Don't sound so shocked!"

"Well I am!"

"Why?" My voice was sharper than I'd intended, but Dimitri seemed to expect it.

"Because you have never shown any romantic interest in me at all. I mean, we flirt and stuff, but you always gave off the vibe that you only did it because we were close enough to not take it seriously. I didn't think you ever saw me as a potential boyfriend or partner."

I rolled my eyes. "Dimitri, I'm a dhampir. You're a moroi. My feelings don't matter. You're supposed to find a pretty, smart, _moroi_ girl, marry her and have lots of moroi babies. That's why I never showed any interest in you. Because from the day we were born, we were set on different paths. You're a royal moroi. You'll live the perfect life of ease and luxury. I'm a guardian; it's my job to keep you, the moroi, safe, and to protect your life with my own. Please don't take this the wrong way, but yes, that means that you're not a potential partner. You can't be." I stretched up and kissed him softly to lessen the sting of my words. "I love you, and you love me. But that's all we can ask for. A life together… it's way out of our reach."

His face was sorrowful, yet resigned as he nodded, and tears prickled at the back of my eyes once again.

"But, Roza," His eyes, though sad, spark with a flash of determination. "You're not _a_ guardian. You're _my_ guardian. And more than that, you are the woman I love. I'll fight for you, for us, if you're willing to do the same."

I shook my head. "I am not worth giving up your reputation for. I'm not worth giving up your inheritance. I can't take away your kids birth right**,** Dimitri."

"You won't be." His lips touched mine softly. "What's the point in finding someone who's happy to sit on the side lines and play the role of the perfect wife, if I don't love them? That's not a happy marriage or a home, that's a business arrangement. If my dad has his way, my whole life would be one huge business, selling off whatever I had to the highest bidder. Love, is the one thing that I'm not willing to compromise on. You're a dhampir, and a lot of people won't accept that. We both know that." He stared into my eyes defiantly. "But I don't care. We'll get married and have kids, and I will love them, just as much as I love you."

"I don't want to get married. And kids ruin your figure. No way, Comrade."

A smile quirked at his lips. "You don't really mean that anymore."

"Yes, I do."

"See. You're already ready to walk down the aisle." I rolled my eyes, and despite myself, my lips pulled up into a smirk. "I remember, back when we were kids, Karolina and Sonya used to make us play with them. And they'd dress us up, and make us get married. And you loved it."

"We were six years old, Dimitri! Everyone loves playing that stupid game when they're kids!"

He laughed. "And there was that time, last year." At my blank face he elaborated. "At my mum's Christmas party, when my mum's guests did whatever and we all stayed in the side room together to play truth or dare. Lissa asked you about getting married, and you faltered. You said that you doubted you'd ever want to do it, or have kids, and you gave a whole host of reasons to back up your argument. But afterwards, Viktoria and Lissa cornered you and you said that whenever you thought about it, I was the only person you could see yourself wanting to marry, and actually staying married to, is me."

I flushed heavily. "That was a private conversation!"

"I know. But you guys weren't very careful about who was standing near to you. Christian and Adrian heard you as well. Why do you think Adrian ramped up his efforts to woo you and win you over?"

"I thought he was just being irritating, as usual."

He chuckled. "Adrian's been crushing on you for the past two years, Rose. I don't know how you don't see it."

"I see it all right. I just don't want to go out with him. And he just doesn't get it."

We laid there in silence for a few more minutes, until the rest of my thoughts spilled from my mouth.

"We've not even tried being in a relationship yet, Dimitri. I think that talking about marriage and kids, is taking it way too far too fast. We don't even know if a relationship would work out between us, or whether we'd drive each other crazy. _If_ we gave things a try and they worked out, we'd need to get over the main obstacle blocking our way. The whole race issue. If we can get people to accept us as a couple then we can think about the other two things."

"So you'll actually give it, give us, a try?" A glimmer of hope worked its way into his voice as I lifted my head to stare into his eyes.

It almost felt like time froze, as if the world held its breath in anticipation of my answer.

"Yes. So long as you promise that, if things don't work out between us, we'll stay friends. That we won't lose our friendship because we're in a relationship."

His deep brown eyes held mine, full of sincerity and trust. "I promise. And I love you."

I smiled as he bent his head to touch his lips to mine. "I love you too."

* * *

><p><strong>I'm looking forwards to hearing what you have to say about this short story!<strong>

**The next two chapters will post later today.**

**Thanks for reading! xx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's part two! Thanks for all the reviews and alerts so far!**

* * *

><p><strong>Rose POV.<strong>

I grinned as Dimitri's eyes caught mine from across the crowded ballroom.

It had been just under a year since we made love to each other for the first time, and four months since we graduated from St. Vladimir's.

_I love you. _

Dimitri mouthed the words to me, and my smile grew. I was completely and totally in love with that man. But then his focus switched back to the elderly moroi he was talking to, and his expression turned grave.

Lissa nudged me to get my attention, and rolled her eyes at my goofy expression.

"I thought the reason that you booked tonight off was so that you and Dimitri could stick to each other like glue?"

I nodded. "Yep, but he also needs to mingle and stay in people's good books. I warned him what dating a dhampir would do to his reputation, but he didn't listen. So I'm staying away from the other royals, except for you and the gang, so the posh snobs won't be reminded."

Lissa nodded, and then dragged me over to stand with Christian and Adrian by the bar.

I grinned, but my smile faltered when I saw the tightness of Christian's jaw, and the worry that lined Adrian's face, along with the half empty bottle of whiskey on the table in front of him.

"What's up?"

"Nothing, little dhampir." Adrian's eyes were slightly glossed over and distant as he avoided my gaze. "Nothing at all."

"_Bullshit_."

Lissa flinched at the sharpness of my tone, rather than my crass words, and disapprovingly took the bottle of whiskey from Adrian's grasp. "You've had enough."

"On the contrary, cousin," Adrian shrugged off her actions and pulled out a small hip flask from his suit jacket pocket. "I don't think I've had enough."

"Neither have I." As a waiter walked past I grabbed the first flute of liquid I saw. Whatever concoction they'd mixed up tasted good, and slipped down my throat easily, leaving a little buzz and trail of fire in its wake.

"Don't drink anymore, Rose. The last thing you need to do is make a scene." Christian's voice was soft, and I had to strain to hear him. "Some… less accepting royals are trying to cause a fuss about yours and Dimitri's relationship again. They're giving him a lot of shit about it tonight. Keeping your distance like you have been all evening is the best thing to do. Getting drunk is the worst. Don't start anything, Rose."

It took everything I had in me to stop myself from marching onto the stage, whistling for everyone's attention, and then bitching out whoever was trying to break us up again.

"This is the fifth time this month! How can you expect me not to start anything, Sparky? I'm fed up with justifying my relationship."

"You both knew it was going to be tough from the moment you announced that you were a couple-"

"I thought people would have calmed down by now. Seeing as he didn't fuck me and run, you think people would have gotten a freakin' clue."

"Well some of them obviously haven't. Change is hard for them, Rose. And your relationship is definitely pushing the limits of most. I think even a dhampir-dhampir relationship would be given a better reception than yours. You're dating the guy who _was_ one of the most eligible bachelors out there. Every teenage moroi girl had their hearts set on him, and every parent had their mind set on his status. They're looking for any way to get you out, and their kid in."

"Even if I dropped dead tomorrow, Dimitri still wouldn't want any of those shallow bitches. And they know it."

He nodded. "They do. But that's not going to stop them from trying."

"Then they can go fuck themselves."

Lissa shushed me then, and Adrian downed another shot of whatever he had in his hip flask. "Little dhampir, the walls have eyes. And ears."

I was about to play his words off as a drunken ramble, but my guardian training caught the quick motion of his eyes glancing to the side.

Using Lissa's body as a shield, I looked out of the corner of my eye, and noticed the tall stature of Priscilla Voda standing a few feet away from us, seemingly engrossed in a conversation with her nephew, Ralph.

I glanced back at Adrian, and smiled in thanks. He tipped his glass at me, and downed another shot.

"Tell Dimitri I'm in our room, staying out of trouble. Our _well-wishers_ have ruined my night."

* * *

><p>"Are you asleep?"<p>

Dimitri's soft lips pressed against my shoulder blade as he settled into bed behind me.

"I was." I rolled over to face him, and he kissed his way up my jaw to my mouth. "But then this sexy Russian guy got into my bedroom somehow, and climbed inside my bed."

"Oh yeah?"

"And then he started to ravish my body with kisses that felt-" My breath caught as he trailed his fingers up and over the curve of my hip. "…Heavenly."

"Really?" His accent was heavy as his lips made their way back down to my collarbone as he nipped at the sensitive skin of my neck.

"I don't think my husband will be too happy if he comes home to find me in bed with another guy. Even if said guy looks startlingly like him."

He smiled against my skin. "I think I could take him."

"I'm sure you could. But I'm pretty sure I could take you, Comrade."

My giggles were smothered as his lips pressed against mine, taking me nicely by surprise.

"Did I tell you, that you looked absolutely stunning in that dress? The royal blue silk running over your beautiful body-"

"Like the way your hands are now?"

As an answer, he grinned and kissed me again before pulling away to yank off his shirt and tie.

I laughed breathlessly as he tugged at the hem of my nightdress. "I think you mentioned it quite a few times. If you forgot, I think your approval was evident in the way that you immediately pressed me up against the wall and did some _very_ naughty things to me as soon as I walked out of the bedroom. And again in the car. And then again in one of the bathroom's during the party."

A wolfish grin lit up his face. "Well even though you have your nightie on now, and not that sexily alluring dress, I don't think I quite got the message across. I think that I need to show you again…"

* * *

><p>I scowled and slammed the front door open as I struggled with the heavy shopping bags.<p>

"Roza?" Dimitri's concerned voice echoed down the hallway, and a few seconds later, his body came into view. "Why didn't you call me to pick you up?"

His eyes widened as he lifted the bags and started to carry them into the kitchen. "Because another little skinny rat decided to gang up with a bunch of her stupid bimbo friends and use her goddamned fire magic to fire my battery. That's why!"

I sank down into one of our dining chairs and groaned as I let my head rest against the cool mahogany surface of the table. "This sucks, Dimitri." The bags stopped rustling as he finished putting away the shopping and began to massage my shoulders. "You said things would get easier. That once people realised you were serious – that we were serious – that they'd back off and leave us alone. But they haven't! It's getting worse as time goes by, not better."

"Have they started attacking you personally?"

"No, but they're doing things to me. Things that I can't retaliate to. They-"

He sighed, and I could just imagine him rubbing his forehead in exasperation. "Roza, we can't do anything until they do something to you. A fried phone battery can be explained and waved off. A pile of snow falling off of a roof and soaking you through will be called a freak coincidence." The chair next to me squeaked as he pulled it out and sat on it. "I hate this too, this stupid game that they're trying to make us play. But we're stronger than that, Roza. We're stronger than them."

I shook my head. "But for how long?"

He was silent, but his large hand wrapped around mine, interlinking our fingers as I continued to burble my thoughts out loud. "I love you, but It's relentless, Dimitri. I bet the queen isn't even under this level of scrutiny. Everyone's just waiting for me to slip up or for you screw up by screwing around. All the Zen lessons and pep talks in the world won't change that fact. How long until we crack under the pressure? Then we end up miserable, and they get what they want."

A few tears leaked out of my eyes, and I swiped at them angrily.

"Roza," He sighed as he pulled me closer and twisted the ring that sat on the fourth finger of my left hand. My engagement ring. It had been Olena's and she'd passed it down to Dimitri to give to me. Or rather, the woman he fell in love with, which ended up being me, the woman he proposed to on graduation night. It was a truly beautiful ring. The band was made out of white gold, with three oval shaped emeralds and two diamonds set into the top. The middle emerald was the largest, with a diamond on either side, followed by an emerald next to the diamond. It was simple, elegant and beautiful.

"This ring and the fact that you're still wearing it now, despite everything we've been through, proves that they won't get what they want. When we get to the altar, I'll mean every word I say. I already do."

My smile was watery as yet more tears blurred my vision. "I mean it too."

He grinned and leant in to kiss me softly. "Good. And I love you too."

* * *

><p>"That's it." I shrugged off Dimitri's soothing touch as I stormed into what was left of our bedroom. "I'm done. It's over, Dimitri. They win."<p>

"Rose-" he sighed and grabbed the duffle bag out of my hands. "You can't give up that easily."

"Easily? _Easily?_ Dimitri, someone broke into our _home_. They smashed the place up. It's vandalised and sullied. Right now, we don't even have a chair to sit on. So don't try to tell me to calm down, or to sit down or to think rationally. I _can't_!" I snatched the bag out of his hand and resumed picking up my clothes from where they'd been left, scattered on the floor, before shoving them into the bag.

"So you're just going to give up? Just like that?"

"Yes." My voice was thick. "I'm tired Dimitri. It's building up, and it's all starting to come to a head. I'm fed up with constantly looking over my shoulder in case someone tries to stab me again. I'm tired of having to constantly be on my guard, in case they try to drag me down an alleyway and beat me up like they did last week. I'm tired, Dimitri." I finished packing the bag and zipped it up as best as I could before I hefted it onto my shoulder. "And so, I'm done."

"Roza, you-" Dimitri's voice cut off as I slipped my engagement ring off and tried to place it in his hand. "You're giving up on _us_?"

"I have to. Because otherwise, I'll never leave. I won't be strong enough to. Give the- give the ring to someone who'll be approved of."

I pulled my hand free from his and turned to take one last glance at the room that had been ours. At the home that had been ours.

"Roza," Dimitri's fingers wrapped around my left arm and turned me back to face him. He didn't say anything as I allowed him to turn my body; instead, he trailed his fingers down my arm to take hold of my hand. "This belongs here." He slipped the delicate band back onto the correct finger. "And nowhere else. On no one else, other than you."

"They'll keep targeting us."

Determination flowed into his gaze as he dropped my hand and started rifling through the piles on the floor. "They won't if they can't find us."

"I'm not following your train of thought, Dimitri."

He grinned as he found what he was looking for. Another large duffle bag, which he began to place his clothes into.

"You seem to think that you can get rid of me easily. 'For better, for worse. For richer, for poorer. In sickness and in health, til death us do part.' I mean it, and I _will_ mean it, Rose. If you wanted to stop the wedding you should have said no when I proposed."

"You are not coming."

"And why not?" He straightened up and met my gaze head on. "You are my fiancée, therefore, wherever you go, I go. You're planning to leave, that means I'm leaving too."

"You can't just up and go, Dimitri!"

"Why not?" He retorted. "You're doing it."

"Because… you have responsibilities. You're a royal moroi. You can't just run off!"

He rolled his eyes. "We're not 'running off' per say, we're just… branching out on our own." At my glare he sighed. "We'll leave a note too."

"What about feeders? Dimitri, you need blood on a daily basis. That's something I can't give you."

"I know."

"Why don't you sound bothered?"

"Because I'm not. Roza, we don't have to cut ourselves off from civilisation. We just need to get far enough from court that people won't immediately suspect. We can live with humans. And if we can't do that, there are moroi villages scattered all over the place. And, if we can't find one, there are dhampir communes too. I'm sure they'd be able to help me get to a feeder."

"There are a lot of holes in this plan."

Dimitri grinned and took my hand in his as he grabbed his bag. "It'll work out in the end."

* * *

><p><strong>The final chapter will post later today. :)<strong>

**Thank you for all of the reviews, faves and alerts, I'll reply to them once the last chapter is posted! **

**Once again, I'm looking forward to wat you have to say about this little development. :) xx**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's the last chapter! I hope you'll enjoy it!**

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><p><strong>Lissa POV.<strong>

It had been six long years since my best friend had run away.

The news of her absence, and then that of Dimitri had shaken our world to its very core. Their house had been found by guardians, the door kicked open and the rooms practically smashed to pieces. But the 'police' hadn't suspected foul play. Footprints in the broken glass showed that someone had walked around afterwards. There was no blood, no weapons of any kind to indicate that Rose or Dimitri had done it, or harmed each other.

And of course, there were the rumours. Except they weren't rumours.

Everyone knew that Rose and Dimitri had been looked down upon as a couple because of the fact that Rose was a dhampir. It didn't matter that they'd been best friends for over thirteen years, or that they'd been planning to get married. As far as the moroi were concerned, it was fine for them to be friends, but sacrilege for them to feel romantically towards each other in any way.

At every royal function, at every chance they got, the sharks were constantly circling, watching for any fault they could find with Rose. Guys deliberately antagonised her, knowing that with her impulsive nature and fiery temper, it wouldn't take much for her to lash out.

Moroi girls flirted with Dimitri relentlessly, in the hopes of getting their picture splashed on the front page of the papers as the next 'Mrs. Belikov', even after Dimitri and Rose announced their engagement.

The whole world was pitted against Rose and Dimitri, and there was nothing they could do about it.

Except to run away.

So they had. And all they'd left to let their families and their friends know that they hadn't been dragged off by the people who wrecked their home… was a note.

_Liss and Mama,_

_We're okay. We wish we could tell you more, but since we don't know who keeps trying to break us apart, we can't leave anything to chance. Don't look for us._

_We love you, and hopefully, someday, we'll see you again. For now, we have to go it alone. _

_Love, _

_Rose and Dimitri._

They'd told us not to look, and I'd known what Rose was hinting at. If we tried to look, we wouldn't find them. They didn't want to be found.

And as the months passed, everyone stopped looking. Except for Olena, Abe and myself. Though Abe was busy most of the time, he still did what he could, and hired private investigators to look for them. Once a year, on the anniversary of their departure, we ramped up our efforts to find them, if only for a day.

But we were starting to lose hope. It had been six years. Six years without any sighting's or contact from either of them. For all we knew, they could have died the day after they left, and our searching would have been in vain.

But we still kept it up, hoping against hope that we'd find them somehow, somewhere.

* * *

><p>"Vasilisa, maybe we should stop."<p>

My tired gaze met Olena's and I nodded. It was midday, human time, since we didn't know what schedule Rose and Dimitri were following. We felt that it was most likely they'd be following a human schedule, as that was the easiest way to avoid detection.

Right now, we were sat in the middle of a park, under a small gazebo trying to shelter from the strong rays of the midday sun. The sunlight didn't harm us since we weren't strigoi, and our guardians looked like they were enjoying being out during the day, but it was uncomfortable. My eyes felt oversensitive and weak as the rays seemed to shine directly into them every time I stopped squinting.

"Maybe you're right Olena. I just- I can't help but feel like we're close…" My voice trailed off as I watched a young boy run into the arms of his father who laughed and pulled him close as they both fell over into the grass. A quick glance at the others showed that they were watching the same thing as I was, small, wistful smiles spread across their faces.

"He reminds me of Dimka." Olena's voice was so low we had to strain to hear her, even with our advanced hearing.

"Who? The man?" Abe nodded. "I can see it."

"No." Olena shook her head, and then she squinted to try to get a better look. "The son. Though now that you mention it…"

"Ethan!" A little girl, no older than two, ran over to join the man and boy who were rolling around on the ground. She toppled over just before she reached them, her hands stretched out to break her fall, and small delicate sobs echoed through the space as her father reached out to pull her into his arms and cradle her body to his chest. From where we were sat, she looked incredibly tiny against his long body, as her brother watched with wide eyes.

His father murmured something to him, and he nodded before running off in search of something, or someone else.

A few minutes later, the little girl seemed to have calmed down and her father stood up.

Beside me, Olena gasped. "He looks so much like Dimka. His height, his shape, but it can't be him. Dimka wouldn't be here, in bright dayli-"

Her voice cut off as the little boy came running back, his voice clear for us all to hear. "Mom's coming. Alana, it's okay." His worry for his young sister was endearing, and at the same time, reminded me of Dimitri. He always kept other people's best interests at heart, and made sure they were cared for before he cared for himself.

"Olena?" Abe gently shook Olena's shoulder. "What's wro-"

His own voice cut off as his eyes locked onto someone else, and I turned in my seat, confusion etched across my features. Until I saw why they were both so shocked.

The woman approaching them had long, waist length hair that was such a dark brown it was almost black. She was at least a foot smaller than the man she approached, and as he caught sight of her, complete adoration filled his features.

It was Rose, no doubt about it, which meant the man was Dimitri. So who were the kids? They couldn't have had children as soon as they left… could they?

I would have been left puzzling if Rose hadn't turned at that moment to shout after the little boy who'd run off again, this time in the opposite direction. One of her hands rested in the crook of her back as she stretched slightly, whilst the other wrapped protectively around her round, swollen belly.

Rose was pregnant.

_Very_ pregnant.

The little boy ran back up to them, his laughter spilling out across the open space as Dimitri handed the younger girl down to Rose and swung the little boy up onto his shoulders, before he bent his head to press his lips against Rose's quickly.

They smiled at each other for a moment before she lifted the smaller girl up onto her hip, and they began to walk away, towards the park exit.

"What do we do now?"

Abe's voice was a low hum, yet serious as he watched his daughter and her family walk out of the park.

I straightened my back and stood up. "We follow them."

* * *

><p><em>Come on Lissa. It's only Rose. She's your best friend. You can do this. Just knock on the door, and things will fall into place.<em>

I gritted my teeth as I listened to my subconscious and pressed the doorbell. There was no noise for a few moments, but then a small thump sounded, along with excited childlike chatter.

The door swung open, and I was face to face with Dimitri's chocolate brown eyes, set in the chubby face of an excited twenty month year old.

"Lissa?" I glanced past the wriggling child to see Dimitri there, holding his daughter up in mid-air so she could 'open' the door.

"Dimitri?"

His daughter wriggled uncomfortably and he immediately placed her down inside the house so that she could toddle down the hallway. Once he straightened up, his eyes flickered over my shoulder, and widened.

"Mama?"

Olena didn't answer; instead, she sobbed and pushed me out of the way to throw her body forwards into her son's arms. Her hands wrapped around his waist tightly as he hugged her back, and I grinned as they reunited after six long years.

Finally, finally, they pulled apart, and Dimitri grinned again. "Would you like to come in?"

Abe nodded and nudged me forwards, eager to see his daughter, as Dimitri took his mother's hand and led her into the house.

"Roza?"

"Yes?" Her voice sounded near, but it's not near enough.

"We have guests." Dimitri turned to grin at us once more, before he pushed the front room door open to reveal Rose curled up on the sofa with their children, her hand idly rubbing small patterns over her distended stomach.

"Rose?" I asked. I needed to clarify that it was really her, that we'd really found them.

"Lissa?"

She sat up straight, and then winced at the sudden movement before holding a hand out for Dimitri to help her up. "Is that really you?"

I nodded, and then we were in each other arms as we sniffled and hugged each other as best as we could with her stomach in the way.

"Sorry," Rose sniffled and wiped at her cheeks. "It's the hormones."

"How long do you have left?"

"Three weeks." A wobbly smile pulled at my best friend's lips before she sniffled again.

But despite her red nose and puffy eyes, my best friend hadn't changed a bit. She was still beautiful, with that cheeky, mischievous look about her, and a quick glance at their son showed that he'd inherited it, too.

"I've missed you, Liss."

We fell into another hug then, and Abe coughed.

"Old man?" Rose grinned and let go of me to hug her father. "I've missed you, too, Baba."

"Kizim." He hugged her gently before pulling back. "You gonna introduce me to my grandchildren?"

Rose laughed and motioned for the kids to get off of the sofa. "This is Ethan Ibrahim Belikov."

Dimitri smiled proudly and lifted up their daughter. "And this is Alana Vasilisa Belikova."

"And as for the unborn baby – we haven't decided yet. But if it's a girl, her middle name will be Olena, and if it's a boy, his middle name will be Christian."

* * *

><p><strong>Rose POV.<strong>

I couldn't believe that our families had found us again. After six years without any sort of contact, they'd stumbled across us by chance.

I sighed and curled up against Dimitri, smiling when his hand rubbed against the sensitive skin of my stomach as our little baby kicked gently.

"I love you, Dimitri."

His lips pressed to the shell of my ear lightly before he smiled and murmured back to me. "I love you, too, Roza."

Lissa and Olena were talking with Ethan and Alana, while my father snooped around the house with their guardians.

"Rose?" I glanced up to find Lissa hesitantly sitting down at the end of the sofa.

"Yup?"

She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt for a moment before meeting my gaze. "Will you come back? To court, I mean."

Behind my back, Dimitri froze and Lissa tensed.

"I- I-" I had to pause to think about it, but I already knew the answer. "Please don't be upset, Lissa." Her face fell, but she nodded bravely. "No."

One crystalline tear trickled down her cheek. "Can I ask why?"

"We just can't Lissa." Dimitri squeezed my hand and leant forwards to kiss my forehead. Lissa was my friend, and therefore, it was my job to explain, but he was still there for me, to support me, no matter what.

"We don't fit in there anymore. After everything that happened, we can't go back Lissa. Our kids are settled, and we've built our life up here. This is our little niche, where we can just be ourselves, without the stress and complications that came with living at court."

She nodded forlornly. "Can I visit you? You're not too far away."

I grinned and scooted down to her end of the sofa to hug her. "Of course! I've missed you."

"I've missed you too." Her voice was sad, but understanding as she hugged me back. "So when did you get married? Even though I know you were staying hidden, I still can't believe you didn't at least invite me to that."

I rolled my eyes before grinning and pointing to the picture on the mantelpiece. "Three months after we left. We'd just settled in here, and then…" I met Dimitri's gaze and smiled softly. "We couldn't wait. We'd been delayed long enough by everything that went on in court." My father nodded. "And with a baby on the way, it was better to get married sooner rather than later. So we did."

"And we haven't looked back since." Dimitri grinned and tilted my face up to meet his. "You were my first, and you'll be my last. You're my everything."

* * *

><p><strong>I hope that you enjoyed your FAGE 3some gift, Laurie. <strong>

**And I hope that my fabulous readers also enjoyed this short story! ****Thank you all for reading and reviewing. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as the previous two! xx**


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